Hello from the Kawarthas - Early Fall Colours, Scarecrows &
Frogmen
Fall is one of the most beautiful seasons in Ontario when
forests light up in hues of yellow, orange and red. It's the
perfect time for drives in the countryside, to visit small
villages, check out farmer's markets, attend country fairs.
We've had a long hot summer this year, even as I write this we
are expecting temperatures 10 degrees Celsius above average. As
a result the fall colour season is a little delayed, but that
did not change the fact that it was time for a country driving
tour.
During the Servas conference in Vancouver I made a great
connection, I met a fellow Ontarian, a lady in her 50s by the
name of Julie who lives north of Peterborough in Ontario's Lake
Country. And as is the Servas tradition, she generously offered
her hospitality and invited me to come up and visit her on
Buckhorn Lake. I left on Saturday at around 4 pm and although I
got lost a couple of times, barely two hours later I arrived at
her beautiful house on Buckhorn Lake.
We spent a fabulous evening chatting and cooking a meal together
that was so delicious that I packed in two big servings. We
talked about many topics and touched on the transitions of life,
who we really are when you strip away job titles, material
possessions, our affiliations with our marriage partners - what
is really left at the end of the day. It was a really
interesting discussion, I always enjoy conversing with people
who have more life experience than I do.
Not surprisingly, Julie is a very interesting individual, she is
a "diversity expert" and teaches organizations how to deal
effectively with a multi-cultural workforce. She also
participates in a variety of volunteer organizations (including
Servas), plays tennis and volleyball, goes for long hikes,
canoes, plays the piano, sings in a choir, to name just a few of
her activities. I asked her if she ever gets lonely in the
tranquility of Lake Country, after having lived most of her life
in the metropolitan hub of Toronto. The answer was a definitive
no, and once I heard of all her activities I realized that with
such an active social calendar it would be very difficult to
feel lonely or get bored.
What's always great about a personal visit is connecting with a
local expert, who really knows the area. Julie took me on a
little driving tour of her neck of the woods (literally) and
showed me some of her favourite spots, which include Fothergill
Island, the Gannon Narrows Conservation Area and the country
drive to the village of Buckhorn.
The Kawartha area is full of lakes, many of which are connected
and form part of the Trent-Severn Waterway System that connects
Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay, part of Lake Huron, over a
distance of 387 km through a serious of lift locks. The
Kawarthas are one of the three main popular getaway areas for
Ontarians which include Muskoka, the Haliburton Highlands, and
the Kawarthas. During our drive Julie pointed out one of the
landlocked lakes that is not connected to the lock system, Sandy
Lake, which has a bottom of sand and clay, resulting in an often
turqouise appearance, somewhat reminiscent of famous Lake Louise
in Western Canada. Sandy Lake is a very popular spot for
vacation homes and the entire Kawartha area boasts thousands of
cottages, camps and resorts, from simple house-keeping cottages
to luxury resorts and conference centres.
Of course fall is harvest time as well, Halloween is approaching
too, and one of the big autumn pastimes in cottage country seems
to be the creation of all forms of scarecrows. They were all
over the place, in front of private homes, bed & breakfasts,
schools, community centres, churches, even on bridges, and I
started snapping away with my camera to document this rural
creativity. My favourite scarecrow encounters included a wedding
scene, "breakfast in bed" in front of a B&B, and some "scarecrow
hoodlums" climbing the fence of a baseball diamond.
After saying goodbye to Julie and thanking her for her great
hospitality, I decided to do a little loop around Buckhorn Lake
and I checked out the village of Burleigh Falls. I got out of
the car and walked down on the flat rocks beside the river which
descends in cascades into Stoney Lake. Burleigh Falls is a cute
little hamlet located at the confluence of Lovesick Lake and
Stoney Lake, and has a few restaurants and a variety of other
accommodations.
One thing I did not realize is that Stoney Lake is a local scuba
diving spot. As I walked past the cascades and arrived at a
little clearing, I saw a scuba diver in full gear coming out of
the water. He explained to me that there were problably about 20
or so divers in the lake, and that they explore the rocky lake
bottom which apparently also includes a deep trench.
>From Burleigh Falls I continued my path south and stopped at
Youngs Point, which houses one of the locks of the Trent-Severn
Waterway System. This little town marks the start of the
Canadian Shield and was settled in 1825. The original lock here
was built in the early 1870's. I stopped at the Lockside Trading
Company, which offers cottage country apparel, home furnishings,
a variety of souvenirs and home decorating items, as well as
some of the famous Kawartha Dairy icecream, which of course I
had to taste.
Youngs Point was my last stop on my way home, although I drove
through a series of cute villages including Lakefield,
Bridgenorth and Port Perry. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive
through the rolling hills of this agricultural land northeast of
Toronto. The feeling was apparently shared by a myriad of other
travellers, some pulling boats on trailers, others riding on
their motorcycles. All in all, it was a perfect early fall day
and an ideal occasion to check out Toronto's backcountry.